This invention relates to knock-down container assemblies formed of non-metallic material and adapted for reuse.
The shipment of goods is often performed using rigid rectangular cartons formed of pressed fibrous material or corrugated paperboard and the like. Upon being erected, the carton is glued, stapled or otherwise secured together in a manner imparting structural rigidity. Rather significant amounts of material must be employed in the construction of such cartons in order to assure that the cartons exhibit sufficient strength to withstand loads encountered upon vertical stacking during shipment and storage. Due to their rigid fastening, the cartons are not easily broken down for reuse.
During shipment and storage such cartons are typically stacked in vertical fashion. Due to the limited capacity of such cartons for withstanding vertical loading, the size of the cartons must be limited so as to maintain the stacking loads within limits that can be supported by the lowermost cartons. As a result, the ratio between the amount of container material being utilized relative to the overall container volume becomes undesirably high.
Once the cartons reach an unloading station, such as a retail store, they must be unloaded. Often this entails carrying the cartons into the store aisles so that the goods may be inserted onto the shelves. As a result, customer access to aisles and shelves can be blocked.
It may be necessary to expend time and labor in ripping the carton apart in order to remove the goods or to thereafter dispose of the cartons. Destruction and disposal of the cartons is particularly wasteful since otentimes the cartons are still structurally sound.
This inventor has previously proposed containers for solving some of the above-discussed problems, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,772 issued July 6, 1976. Notwithstanding the advances in the art contributed by this proposal, significant room for improvement still remains.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to minimize or obviate problems of the types earlier described.
It is another object of the present invention to provide novel methods and apparatus for handling goods.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel container assembly which is highly rigid to withstand vertical and torsional loading and which can be easily broken down for reuse.
It is another object of the invention to enable goods to be transported in bulk and then broken down into smaller easily-handled units for ultimate handling.
It is another object of the invention to enable goods to be transferred to store shelves with reduced blockage of aisles.